Shawn Porter has faced some of the biggest names in the welterweight division in the past few years, but his upcoming fight against Danny Garcia could be the biggest fight of his career, according to Porter.
In an exclusive interview with Fightful, Porter talked about his September 8 bout against Garcia for the vacant WBC welterweight title. In the interview with Fightful, Porter called the fight against Garcia "the biggest" of his career.
It's a bold statement to claim considering the extensive resume Porter has amassed in the past few years. Porter, a former world champion in his own right, has fought some of the best at 147 pounds, including Keith Thurman, Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi, Kell Brook and Devon Alexander.
“It’s the biggest fight of my life. It’s bigger than when I beat Devon Alexander and I’m really proud of myself on being able to win the WBC title and take it back home. Obviously, to fight someone like Danny Garcia, who was virtually unstoppable. He’s no slouch, he’s very experienced in the ring. I know this is going to be a great night for me. You can talk about me having fought these big name fighters, I want to stay on the top side of that. I dropped one to Kell Brook and dropped one to Keith Thurman so to have those guys on my resume, to have those guys that I fought, honestly it means nothing to me if I’m not beating those guys and being successful. It’s a whole combination of things and a whole list of reasons I can give you on why I’m going to be successful on September 8, but more than anything, I’m just looking forward to it," Porter said.
The fight will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing telecast from Brooklyn's Barclays Center. It is the fourth straight time, and fifth overall, that Porter has fought at Barclays Center. It was the site of Porter's IBF welterweight title win over Alexander and the venue holds a lot of memories for Porter.
When asked what it means to him fighting in Brooklyn, Porter responded by saying that he loves the atmosphere the Brooklyn boxing fans create whenever there is a big boxing event taking place. Porter compared the passion and energy of the fans in Brooklyn to the fans in Sheffield, England where Porter fought Brook in 2014.
“As a whole, it’s just a ton of fun. When you touch down and from the moment you leave, the Brooklyn fans are [amazing]. The only fans I’ve seen that are close to that is when I went to Sheffield for the Kell Brook fight. Those guys are really loud over there and the guys here in Brooklyn are not shy. They will tell you how they feel. They’ll tell you what they like, what they don’t like and it just makes it an absolute joy to fight in that atmosphere. Fight night, when you step into the ring, it’s just like any other ring out there. You do anything you can to be successful and beat the guy across from you. This time’s it’s Danny Garcia," Porter said.
The September 8 card from Brooklyn will be a stacked card that will also feature a WBC welterweight title eliminator between Yordenis Ugas and Cesar Barrionuevo and Amanda Serrano attempting to make history when she fights Yamila Esther Reynoso for the vacant WBO women's junior welterweight title and becoming the third boxer in history to win a world title in six weight classes.
